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Thursday, 31 March 2016

Hi everybody and welcome to a new challenge at TIME OUT. Our theme for this week is to be:

Inspired by Words

'A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you puther in hot water' by Eleanor Roosevelt

You can be inspired by the whole sentence or maybe just one word, its totally up to you!

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is the fabulous Elaine from Craft-E-Place. Elaine creates the most incredible CAS designs (which you know I love) and is so clever with her use of colour. I really urge you to check out her blog!!

QUICK NOTE: I just want to mention that this challenge only runs for one week. They usually run for two weeks but unfortunately there was a little 'snafu' with the calendar this month, so you need to have your projects linked by next Wednesday.

When I saw the inspiration for this challenge I knew exactly which stamp set I would use as it really enforces the 'strong' message:

The first thing I did was stamp and heat emboss the 'smile' in gold on some white CS. I then spent a lot of time trying to fussy cut it as close to the gold as I could. Next out came my box of paint chips and I die-cut some flowers from pink and pale blue, and the middle details in black CS.

I stamped the sentiment in black, glued the flower parts together and then adhered them to the card front. The 'smile' was then popped up on foam tape and a few co-ordinating sequins added for shine.

All of the stamps and dies are from CAS-ual Fridays. The flower dies are from the 'Friendly Flowers' Fri Dies set. The 'smile' and sentiment are from the 'Sassy Smiles' stamp set. The blue and pink sequins are from Neat and Tangled and the gold from Pretty Pink Posh.

Remember, you only have one week to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And of course the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer have some beautiful projects on the blog to help inspire you. Looking forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!

Wednesday, 23 March 2016

This is always a popular one and I'm ready to see the Gallery exploding at its seams with a variety of incredible designs!!

Our Sponsor for this challenge is SLS Lines. Its an Etsy shop that sells digital papers and stamps, and even colouring books and clip art. They will be giving the winner 2 digital images from their store!!

I've still been playing around with all my new release Waffle Flower goodies and then came across this challenge photo from the Altenew March Challenge that gave me an idea:

I loved the swirly green hedge borders in the photo, with the pink flowers within them. All the green patterns reminded me of the Waffle Flower Lacy Flower dies, so I die-cut one in green from a paint chip. I then used the Waffle Flower Lacy Flower Mats to cut the matching shape in pink and then the largest mat in green again. These were all glued together and adhered to the card front. I then stamped the sentiment in black (from Altenew 'Sohcahtoa') and added a few green and pink sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

You have one week to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge and if you would like help in the inspiration department, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have put together for you. Their projects are amazing!!

I hope you get a chance to join us and I can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Wow, there are so many incredible cards linked to the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, Amy must be so excited and, I hope ,proud of herself for creating such a popular event. I don't even drink coffee or tea and I always look forward to this hop!!For my second entry I wanted to bring some flowers into my design, somewhat of a Spring bouquet in a funny vase:

I die-cut the stitched rectangle from some white CS and adhered to the card front. I then die-cut the mug from a blue paint chip and glued this as well. I spent a bit of time stamping the flowers and die-cutting them before gluing them into place over the mug. A sentiment stamped in black and the card was done!! Very happy with how it turned out, its so crisp and clean with all that floral colour!

The flower stamps and matching dies are from WPlus9 'Fresh Cut Containers'. The rectangle die is from Pretty Pink Posh. The cup die and sentiment stamp are from My Favourite Things 'Hug in a Mug'.

It has been so warm the past few days and even right now at 8pm its still t-shirt and shorts temperature. I'm not ready for Winter but a few cold, rainy days will be quite lovely, especially for card making!!Take careShona

Monday, 21 March 2016

Finally I get a chance to sit down and link a card for the so very popular Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, which seems to be getting bigger and bigger!!

As always this was all organised by the super talented Amy Tsuruta. I don't know how she juggles all her Design Teams, this blog hop and everyday life but she does it all with ease. She has tempted even more sponsors to come on board, so there are even more prizes up for grabs!

This is my first of two cards I've already prepared and I'm hoping to get another finished off before Friday. Because there is a 'Spring' theme, I wanted to include some beautiful bright colours, just like all those blossoms and flowers that will be on their way soon....:

To get this started I die-cut the coffee mug and used some washi tape to hold it in place on the panel. I then used four different Distress Inks - Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick and Spun Sugar with a mini-blending tool to create this ombre look. I removed the mug and then use the same inks on another scrap of white CS so I could die-cut the stitched heart. This was then glued in place, as well as stamping the sentiment in black ink. The panel was then popped up on some foam tape on the card front and a few pink sequins added for some sparkle.

The 'mug' and 'heart' dies are from My Favourite Things, as well as the sentiment stamp from 'Hug in a Mug'. The sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.

CAS on Sunday # 79 (Stencil It - which is how I used my mug die-cut)I'm off outside now, back into the hot sun and my own garden. Thought it was about time to take a break from making everyone else's gardens look amazing and get my own up to date. And I don't want to be doing it over the long Easter weekend, would rather be eating chocolate eggs with the kids!!

Friday, 18 March 2016

Talk about lucky!! I made this card last weekend and was planning on posting it tonight (thinking the challenge finished tomorrow which is Saturday). So lucky I looked at the post because I have about 4 hrs before the link closes....eeek!

I totally fell in love with this inspiration photo for the Inspired by All the Little Things challenge. I do have a wreath die but the paper I wanted to use wouldn't have shown up very much, so I had another idea:

I started off by die-cutting the circle from some wood-grain patterned paper. I then stamped the tulips on some white CS and coloured with my pencils. After stamping the little flowers with two shades of blue ink, I fussy cut them out along with the tulips. I cut the tulips up so the leaves were separate and layered and glued all the pieces on the circle. Lots of foam tape was added to the circle and it was popped up on the card front.

For the sentiment, I die-cut a frame from some white CS and used the inside negative, stamping my sentiment in black and adhering to the top of the circle. And of course I had to add some pink and blue sequins for a little bit of shine.

The circle die is from Waffle Flower Crafts 'Flower Circle Die Set', as well as the stamps from the 'Welcome Spring' set. The frame die is from Paper Smooches and the patterned paper from Basic Grey 'B Side'. The sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.

Have just brought the kids home from school and this is the first afternoon we haven't had something on all week. Its so nice not to have to run off to a meeting or a practice today. I'm going to go and chill with Phoebe who just got a new dvd of one of her favourite programmes 'Outnumbered' (its a British show). Its so funny and I think we might need to eat an ice cream while watch it!!

Hello everyone and welcome to a new challenge at Just Add Ink! We have a rather interesting challenge theme for you this week:

JUST ADD 'E'

This means you can add something beginning with the letter 'E' to your card or base your card around something starting with 'E' or maybe just use a colour starting with 'E'. Its totally up to you!!

I actually got a little stuck on this one. I don't own any Easter sentiments and even though I do have an elephant I've only just used it recently so didn't want to do that again. So I came up with something really odd:

Eyeglasses!!! Bet you never guessed that one! Lol!!

Yes, eyeglasses was my weird but kind of cute idea. I had never used the glasses stamp before so thought it was about time it was inked up and taken for a spin!

I stamped the three critters on some white CS, coloured them with pencils and then fussy cut them out. I then added some Glossy Accents to the lenses but its hard to see that in this photo. I die-cut the frame twice from white CS, glued together and then popped it up on some foam tape. I then put the critters on some foam tape too. The sentiments were stamped in black and I added some deep pink and clear sequins for a bit of sparkle.

The frame is from Pretty Pink Posh, as well as the clear sequins and the critters (from stamp set 'Holiday Pals'). The sentiments are from Concord and 9th 'Love you. Mean it' and the sequins from Neat and Tangled.

You have until next Wednesday March 23rd to link your projects to the Just Add Ink blog. And if you need any help thinking of an 'E' inspired project, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created, you will love what they have made. Hope to see you in the Gallery!!

Thursday, 17 March 2016

I'm quickly popping in with one last post of the day, before I rush off to bed to get warm. Yes, it would seem that you won't be getting many more posts about myself and the kids melting in the sunshine and swimming at the school pool. Autumn well and truly arrived yesterday and its freezing!! I have to admit it is kind of nice because I can snuggle up in bed with the kids for their bedtime stories and its well and truly dark when they need to go to sleep. So the coldness has its good and bad points.

I really wanted to join the Addicted to CAS challenge this time because the idea I had would add to my Christmas Card pile (which was no where near big enough last year) but I got a bit carried away with the amount of gifts:

I die-cut a circle frame from white CS and popped it up on foam tape on my card base. I then stamped all the gifts and the elf on some white CS and coloured using my pencils. Out came my little scissors and I spent forever cutting all of these out. I glued all the gifts to the frame and then popped the elf up on foam tape. The sentiment was then stamped in black and that was that!!

All of these stamps came from Neat and Tangled 'Merry Little Christmas'. The circle die is from Waffle Flower 'Flower Circles Die Set'.

Right, off to my warm bed I go. One more day and its the weekend. Max has his last tennis game on Saturday morning and then I get two Saturdays to sleep in before he starts playing Winter soccer. I said to my Mum that maybe Dave should take him since I took him to every tennis game but I would be missing out then. So will have to rug up and do jumping jacks on the sideline to keep warm!!

While I was staying with my Mum last weekend, I thought it was a chance to join a challenge I had been wanting to for months but it never quite worked out. This was my time!!

The Your Next Stamp challenge is one I've looked at a lot. Their stamps are so adorable, especially since they have a stamp named after my daughter Phoebe. I haven't been able to purchase any of their products yet but they are definitely on my wishlist!!

I loved both the colours AND the sketch so decided to combine them both:

I started this off by die-cutting the square from a green paint chip and adhering to my card base. I then stamped all the images on white CS and used their matching dies to cut them all out. I layered and glued them over the square and popped the birdie on some foam tape. The 'celebrate' was die-cut once from a pale pink paint chip and some white CS, glued together and then to the card. The rest of the sentiment was stamped in black on a tiny piece of white CS and glued to the card along with some co-ordinating sequins.

The stamped/die-cut images over the square are all from Waffle Flower 'Leafy' as well as the 'celebrate' die. The square die is also Waffle Flower 'Doily Square Die', as well as the stamped sentiment from the 'Congrats' stamp set. The sequins are from Neat and Tangled.

The weather has turned very cold all of a sudden which is very hard to get used too. To go from tank top and shorts one day to thermals the next is quite a shock to the system. We all knew it was coming but didn't expect it to happen overnight. Winter is coming........

Hi everybody and welcome to another challenge at TIME OUT. We had such a fantastic response to our challenge last week for our 2nd Birthday, going to be mega hard to choose a winner and thanks so much to everyone who joined us!

We have the pleasure this week of CASEing the card of another amazing designer:

The designer of this card is Marjan Kuppers of Marj@ans Blog. She seems to be able to design for any style and her layering skills are incredible. She also uses the most beautiful embellishments with ease. We would like you to CASE (copy and share everyone) Marjan's card, which means you can be inspired by her design any way you like and then make your own creation. I always find it fascinating to see what other people come up with when CASEing, as we all pick out different parts of the card to inspire us. Looking forward to seeing the Gallery!!I loved the idea of having flowers on long stalks going up the middle of the card and also liked how she has that die-cut rectangle adding interest. This is what I came up with:

I started off by cutting a panel of white CS slightly smaller than my card front. I stamped the stalks and flower heads in black and then coloured with my pencils. I used a circle die to cut out the central area of the flower heads and also die-cut two more circles from plain white CS. The panel was adhered to the card front, I glued all the circles together and then inlaid back into the hole. The sentiment was stamped in black over the stalk and I added a few pink and light blue sequins for a little bit of shine.

All the stamps are from Waffle Flower 'Lotus' and the circle die from Couture Creations. The sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.

You have two weeks to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if you need any ideas with regards to CASEing this card, the rest of the Design Team have some amazing projects on the blog. Can't wait to see how your inspired in the Gallery!!

Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Hi everybody and welcome to this months Waffle Flower Challenge. We have a very popular technique for you this month and the most beautiful inspiration photo:

Each month you have the chance to win prizes! A random winner will be picked from all the entries to win a stamp set of their choice. We also pick a winner from entries using Waffle Flower products to also win a stamp set of their choice AND be a Guest Designer for a future challenge. Very exciting indeed!!

I'm definitely a 'beginner' when it comes to Water Colouring but I really enjoy doing it, its very relaxing and even if you paint the same image, it looks different every time. Instead of trying to paint an image this time, I created some coloured paper to die-cut pieces from:

Using water and a brush, I coloured some water colour paper using Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry', 'Mustard Seed' and 'Spiced Marmalade', inspired by the flowers in the photo. This is so handy to do when you don't have the right colour CS for your design. Once it was dry, I used dies from the Waffle Flower - Lacy Flowers Die Set on the different coloured pieces. I wanted to somehow show a link to the basket in the photo, so I used some beige coloured paint chips and die-cut the backing shapes using the Waffle Flower - Lacy Flower Mats Die Set.

Then came the fun part of gluing all the layers together very carefully. The two smaller flowers were adhered straight to the card front and the larger popped up on foam tape. I used some gold CS to die-cut the Waffle Flower - Awesome Die and also twice from white CS and stuck them all together for some dimension. This was glued over the large flower, along with a small banner heat embossed in gold, with the sentiment from the Waffle Flower - Congrats Set.

You have until March 25th to link your projects to the Waffle Flower Challenge, so if you haven't already that will hopefully give you enough time to enter once or maybe even twice!! If you need any help with inspiration, some of the Design Team have their projects on the blog, with more being added next week.

I really hope you can join us and I can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!

Monday, 14 March 2016

I haven't had much time in the last few months to join the girls for the Muse Challenge but with staying with my Mum over the weekend I was able to create for a few more challenges than normal!! Yay!

Michele was the glorious Muse for this weeks challenge and I fell in love with her card straight away! All that gorgeous, lush green against the crisp white took my breath away. I knew my card wouldn't compare but I wanted to try out this cool design of hers:

I'm needing a lot of cards to send to sweet friends at the moment, so this was a great chance to add to the collection!!I masked off the bottom half of the card with washi tape and used my mini-blending tool and some 'Picked Raspberry' Distress Ink to create the coloured area. I then grabbed Hero Arts Shadow Ink 'Bubble Gum' and stamped the two different sized flowers from Winnie and Walter 'In Bloom: Lola's Bouquet with Joni Andaya. I removed the washi tape and die-cut the Winnie and Walter 'Friend' die across the line and added a panel to the back of the card to give the word somewhere to be glued too. I die-cut the word 2x more from white CS, glued them all together and then placed back in the die-cut negative. I then stamped the sentiment (using 'my' from W&W 'The Big, the Bold and the Happy' and the 'thank you' from W&W 'The Big, the Bold and You') in black and added some clear and pink sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for some sparkle.I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Work it Wednesday February Challenge where their theme is 'Floral'.

I have hundreds of emails sitting in my Inbox from being away over the weekend that need sorting but my bed is looking really good. Just realised The Walking Dead is on right now so that might keep me awake a bit longer.......

Thursday, 10 March 2016

Hi everybody and welcome to the halfway point for our current TIME OUT challenge. This challenge also celebrates our 2nd birthday, so thank you to everyone who has joined us so far, the Gallery looks beautiful!!

The theme for this challenge is:

SPRING and/or EASTER with optional twist of Masking

We even have some prizes for this challenge. The winner of this challenge will receive a $20 gift voucher from Stamplorations and a random winner will be picked from those that 'Twist' with us (use masking on their card) and they will receive 2 standard size ARTploration Stencils. So there's lots to play for this time round!!

As I did ALOT of masking on my first card, I decided to do something different this time around. I was surprised when I finished how much it was like my first design in colour:

Black, yellow and white again?? Who knew my brain would automatically refer to this palette when thinking of Spring!!

I was very excited the other day to find some water colour CS that was nearly white and smooth, so of course I had to take it for a test ride!! I started off by stamping the rabbits (from Waffle Flower 'Welcome Spring') in random spots over the panel. I then did some water colouring using Distress Ink 'Mustard Seed' trying not to get any yellow on the rabbits themselves (which was quite hard as I'm such a messy crafter....). I dried the panel with my heat gun and applied to a card base.

For the sentiment I die-cut the circle (from Waffle Flower 'Flower Circles Die Set') from some more water colour CS (I tried using my usual CS but it was too brilliant white). I stamped the sentiment (from the same Waffle Flower stamp set) but thought it didn't quite look right on the card. So I used my mini-blending tool and the same Distress Ink just to add a bit of yellow around the edge. It made such a difference so I popped it up on foam tape, along with some clear and yellow sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

You have until next Wednesday to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. The rest of the Design Team have some gorgeous projects on the blog for you to get your creative juices flowing and I can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!

Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Clean and Simple card designs tend to not have too many layers or embellishments. Everyone has their own ideas on what it means to them so go for gold and I can't wait to see what you come up with!

The sponsor for this challenge is the wonderful Stamplorations and they are offering the winner a $10 gift voucher!! So lucky!

For my card this week I went a bit crazy with 'inlaid die-cutting' and tried out something I had wanted to do since I received some new dies. It was very touch and go there for a bit but so worth all the frustration:

I absolutely love the new release from Waffle Flower and these 'Lacy Flower Mats' were created to go underneath the 'Lacy Flower' dies. I was always wondering how they would fit together all inlaid into each other and turns out they fit perfectly!!

I started off by die-cutting the larger die from the card front and also from a pink paint chip. I then used the next die to cut from a blue paint chip and also from the pink one. After die-cutting I carefully removed the smaller die and rubbed a piece of Glad 'Press n Seal over the whole thing. This keeps all the tiny pieces stuck in one place. I then carried on doing the same with all the other layers using paint chips.

I added a panel of white CS behind the die-cut negative on the card front. This gives all the other dies somewhere to sit. I carefully removed the middle layer of each die-cut flower and inlaid them on in the pink flower, with the Press n Seal still attached to it. That way I had the whole flower inlaid and ready to go and could press it all into the glued die-cut negative on the card. Once it was pressed in firmly I could remove the Press n Seal. Its the most amazing stuff (designed by Jennifer McGuire's husband!) and die-cutting is a breeze with it.

To finish off I stamped the sentiment (from Waffle Flower 'Congrats) in black for contrast and added lots of coloured sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. So happy with how it turned out and will definitely be doing this again with different colour combo's!!

You have until next Wednesday to add your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More! challenge. The rest of the Design Team have some incredible projects on the blog if you need any help with ideas and inspiration. Looking forward to seeing your designs in the Gallery!!!

Friday, 4 March 2016

Hi everybody and welcome to a new challenge at Just Add Ink. Our theme for this weeks challenge is:

JUST ADD NUMBERS

You could do this in many ways. Maybe stamping with numbers themselves or stencils, use patterned paper with numbers on them or die-cutting numbers.....the possibilities are endless. And I can't wait to see what your imagination comes up with!

After going through all of my stamps, I realised I didn't have any number stamps or dies. And even my patterned papers weren't helpful at all. So, after going through my stamps again I thought I could use number words instead:

Last year I purchased some 6x6 paper pads and have been trying to incorporate them into my designs. I have a really cool pad from Basic Grey 'B-Side' which has really modern and funky patterns and colours. I decided to use my favourite one to give this card a pop of colour against all the white.

I die-cut the frame twice from white CS and glued them together before adhering to the card front. I then die-cut the umbrella handles 3x each from black CS and glued them together. I also die-cut the umbrella tops twice from white CS and once from the paper before gluing them all together.

I glued the handles down first and then popped the umbrella tops up on foam tape for a bit of dimension and it also brought them up higher than the frame. The sentiment was stamped in black and a few sequins were added for a bit of shine.

The frame is from Pretty Pink Posh, as well as the sequins. The umbrella dies are from Paper Smooches, as well as the stamp from the set 'Daisies and Paisleys'.

You have until next Wednesday 9th March to link your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge. The rest of the Design Team have prepared some creations on the blog to help inspire you if you need any ideas. I can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!

Thursday, 3 March 2016

Hi everybody!! This is a very exciting challenge for us at TIME OUT because its our birthday!!!! The TIME OUT Challenge is 2 years old!

I've been very privileged to have been a part of the TIME OUT team for over a year now and I'm so proud of Sandie and Nonni (who started the challenge) and how far the challenge has come. We have the an incredible number of loyal followers and are welcoming new followers all the time. So thank you everyone for making the challenge so much fun and I hope you join us for many more years to come!!!

We have a fun challenge for you. I'm sure a lot of you on the other side of the world from me (I'm in New Zealand where its been very hot!!) have been dreaming of Spring arriving. So our theme for this challenge is:

EASTER and/or SPRING with optional twist of MASKING

Our Sponsor for this challenge is Stamplorations where the very generous Shery is giving the winner a $20 gift voucher. There will also be a random draw from those who 'twist' with us (use Masking) and she is giving that person 2 standard size ARTploration stencils. Thank you so much Shery!!!

And our Guest Designer for this challenge is the incredible TaeEun from Rainbow in November. I'm a huge fan of her's, she is an amazing designer and her water colouring abilities are out of this world. I really encourage you to visit her blog, you will not be disappointed!

I was very lucky recently to receive some new release goodies with a 'Spring' theme. Masking isn't something I do very often but I had this design in my mind, so I knew I would just have to dive on in and give it a go:

I started off by stamping the baby chick three times on some masking paper and then fussy cut them all out. I stamped the first row of chicks on my card first and then started masking and stamping, moving the masking stickers as I went. Once I had finished I coloured the chicks with yellow pencil and orange for the beaks, stamped the sentiment in black and added some yellow and clear sequins. Apart from a few spots here and there from ink (I'm so clumsy....) I'm so happy with how this turned out and maybe masking isn't so scary after all!The stamps are all from Waffle Flower 'Welcome Spring' and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.I'm going to link this to the lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #6. For those of you that don't know NBUS stands for 'never before used schtuff' so you must create something with something you haven't used before. I haven't had a chance to use this little chickie yet but now I have and with Easter coming, I can imagine he will be used ALOT!!

You have two weeks to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And if you need any help in the 'ideas' department, please pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have whipped up for you. Can't wait to see your designs in the Gallery!!Take careShona

I'm even more excited about this month's challenge because we get to CASE a card by my bloggie friend Kim from Cupcakes, Cards and Kim. I'm sure you will have come across Kim in Blogland, she belongs to several Design Teams, is a sewing genius and she can create a card for any occasion!! This is the card she gave us to CASE this month:

Isn't this exquisite?? She has put so much time into this card, I love all the little details and the scenes within the boxes are so sweet. I can imagine our Gallery is going to be overloaded with many fabulous entries this month!!I loved the idea of the square blocks on the card front and got carried away designing a card that would be perfect for my daughter to give to her cat-loving best friend:

I started off my die-cutting the '3 window panels' from the card front, attaching a panel of white CS behind the negative spaces and inlaying the panels back in. I stamped all the images on white CS, coloured with pencils and used the matching dies to cut them all out. I adhered them to the card and stamped the sentiment in black. Such a simple card to make!!

The '3 window panel' dies are from Pretty Pink Posh. The stamps and matching dies are from Die-Versions 'Cats Meow'.

You have until March 31st to link your projects to the Happy Little Stampers - March CASE the Designer Challenge, hopefully plenty of time for you to enter maybe more than once! And if your needing any help with inspiration, the rest of the Design Team have some incredible projects on the blog to help you. I can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!